Mississippi

Eliza Farish Pillars was born in Jackson, Mississippi and pursued her nursing career at the Jackson Infirmary Charity Hospital, which is now known as St. Dominic Hospital. She became the first African American registered nurse employed by the Mississippi State Board of Heath in 1926, and the Eliza Pillars Registered Nurses of Mississippi organization (formerly the Colored Registered Nurses Club) was named in her honor.

Throughout the Magnolia State, nurses of many different skin tones can be found in hospitals, schools, nursing homes, hospice facilities and outpatient clinics, using their skills to treat illness and injury alike. If it’s your goal to be among their ranks, we’re here to help you learn what you need to do in order to become a nurse in Mississippi.

Best Nursing Schools in Mississippi

To help prospective nurses make an educated decision on a nursing school in Mississippi, we’ve created two separate rankings of the best nursing schools in the state. One ranking is for undergraduates while the other one is intended for graduates. To create these rankings, we used data from the Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System, or IPEDS. For more details on our ranking methodology, visit the bottom of this page.

Our rankings are more than just a number. The data we display can help prospective nurses to learn about the acceptance rate, tuition and fees, number of programs offered, and other relevant factors of these Mississippi nursing schools. Every student’s needs are different, and comparing these schools is important for deciding which schools are best for you.

Our undergraduate and graduate rankings for nursing schools in Mississippi are as follows:

Number of graduate-level nursing programs offered through distance education

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Nursing Accreditation in Mississippi

Finding accredited nursing schools in Mississippi is an important step for nursing students to take. A student at an accredited school is able to transfer credits and apply for financial aid opportunities that a student at an unaccredited school may not be able to. Furthermore, some employers look specifically for an accredited school background when hiring, and may pass over candidates who attended an unaccredited school.

The major nursing school accreditation agencies in Mississippi include the following:

Commission on Collegiate Nursing Education (CCNE)

State of Mississippi Institute of Higher Learning

Mississippi Nursing Licensure

Students who would like to become licensed practical nurses (LPNs) in Mississippi must complete an LPN program, which usually takes one year full-time or two years part-time. Upon completion, they are required to pass the NCLEX-PN exam.

Registered nurses (RNs) in Mississippi must earn an associate degree in nursing (ADN) or a Bachelor of Science in nursing (BSN). They must then pass their own version of the NCLEX exam: the NCLEX-RN.

RNs who wish to take their careers to the next level and work as certified nurse practitioners (CNPs) are required to complete a graduate nursing degree program and pass the national NP certification exam.

Mississippi Nursing Organizations

There are several Mississippi nursing organizations that exist to benefit and empower nursing students and working nurses in the state. Let’s take a closer look at what some of these organizations are.

Mississippi Nurses Association (MNA):

MNA is committed to becoming a strong voice for nurses in Mississippi. This organization hosts a variety of events, activities, programs, workshops and collaborations, including the Statewide Nursing Summit, which brings together nursing organizations across Mississippi.

Mississippi Nurses Foundation (MNF):

MNF was established by the MNA in 1982. Its purpose is to raise charitable donations to promote nursing and improve healthcare in Mississippi. They perform fundraisers, disperse financial aid and sponsor continuing nursing education.

Mississippi Association of Nurse Practitioners (MANP):

MANP is an organization that is wholly dedicated to nurse practitioners. Their partnership with Global Training Institute allows them to educate and train NPs, and they also present opportunities for political representation, conferences, meetings and continuing education.

MISSISSIPPI-SPECIFIC CONTINUING EDUCATION

Continuing education requirements are the same for RNs and LPNs in Mississippi. Both types of nurses must complete 20 contact hours every two years.

On the other hand, CNPs are required to maintain national certification requirements, which you can learn more about on our Nurse Practitioner page. They must also complete 40 contact hours every two years, at least two hours of which must be directly related to the prescription of controlled medications.

For more information on continuing education requirements for Mississippi nurses, visit this resource.

Hospitals in Mississippi

Mississippi is home to a number of hospitals. This is good news for entry-level nurses, who may be able to earn hands-on experience in the field from these facilities, as well as for experienced nurses, who may be able to build long-lasting careers at these locations. The state’s three largest hospitals include:

University of Mississippi Medical Center (Jackson): This is the only academic health science center in the state of Mississippi. In addition to its many healthcare studies and facilities, it includes health science schools for medicine, nursing, dentistry, health-related professions, graduate studies, population health, and pharmacy.

North Mississippi Medical Center-Tupelo (Tupelo): The North Mississippi Medical Center at Tupelo serves counties in both north Mississippi and northwest Alabama. It offers a variety of acute diagnostic and therapeutic services, and it also allows patients to have healthcare appointments with distant providers through a series of Telehealth sites, which are staffed by nurses.

Baptist Medical Center (Jackson): Since its inception in 1911, Baptist Medical Center has served Mississippi as a Christian-based, nonprofit, comprehensive medical center. A wide array of services for cancer, cardiovascular health, diabetes, gastroenterology, neuroscience, orthopedics and other specialties are available at this hospital.

Using the National Center for Education Statistics’ Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System (IPEDS), we gathered data for 6,758 United States institutions. We then filtered that list of schools by state and analyzed the data for each state with two different methodologies, in order to create two different lists: our undergraduate list, based on 11 ranking criteria, and our graduate list, based on 9 ranking criteria.

Final data for the 2016-17 school year was used for these rankings. Schools that did not provide data for all of the required ranking criteria were disqualified from that ranking.

The 11 criteria for the undergraduate school ranking were as follows:

Number of associate- and bachelor’s-level degree programs offered to nursing-related majors

All schools were scored on a 10-point scale for each of the points listed above. Individual data point scores were then multiplied by their respective weights, and the scores were added together, for a maximum possible score of 10 points.

NOTE: Schools’ tuition amounts are based on 2016-17 undergraduate and graduate data reported to the National Center for Education Statistics. The actual cost of tuition may vary.

Explore schools offering nursing programs

Important Information: We strive to provide information on this website that is accurate, complete and timely, but we make no guarantees about the information, the selection of schools, school accreditation status, the availability of or eligibility for financial aid, employment opportunities or education or salary outcomes. Visit here for important information on these topics.